The White Ghost of Hart's Cove

19

.^^ The Twisted Mangrove ^^

— Teilin —

I'd noticed, in my past few days in this place, that almost everyone had their Sigil bared at all times. Whether that meant walking around topless or with their pants cut to just above the knee, no one seemed to care.

I also realized that they had noticed I was not showing mine, and so I took to rolling up one of my sleeves, to show them a bit of my Sigil, but not freak them out.

I still haven't seen a Sigil bigger than the full-sleeve of another Chosen, who was apparently one of the best 'spirit-seekers' (seemed a fancy name for necromancer,) they had ever seen.

So I sat down with him, and simply watched him work. Seeing as no one had volunteered to be my mentor, I needed to learn on my own. My work with the Skycastle and Machinists continued, at night, and I would watch people do magic, during the day.

They were mostly right, in telling me that Druidic Arcana didn't follow the normal rules of magic, but it did have rules. For example, if you wanted to bring a cat back to life, you would need to sacrifice enough life energy to give that cat life.

Seeing as you only need a spark, to be alive, after your body is healed, it was a simple procedure. The hard part was finding the cat's soul/spirit.

While inside the body, it was normally called a Soul, but once it left, it was a Spirit, and it would float around for a few decades, or even centuries, before it faded back into nature. Even so, it's bones could summon a small piece of it, even after that point, and should it be recently deceased, the whole spirit could be recaptured.

I learned all this by watching the Chosen reanimate a cat, explaining himself to a few children nearby. I also learned that he talked like a moron to children, treating them like idiots, and they didn't seem to mind, which annoyed me even worse.

I blocked off my emotions, realizing they would feel my anger, and just sat through the rest of the impromptu lecture. I learned a bit, and when it was done, I left, and found the bones of a Cow, which Gwynn had recently eaten, and practiced bringing it back, and letting him eat it again.

I couldn't get the spirit to re-enter the body, even when I found it, so I went back, and watched some more, hoping there'd be a trick to it.

"There is no trick to it. Your intentions matter. Treating animals like test subjects will cause their spirits to resist you, and their old bodies." An human man said suddenly, sitting next to me, his silver-white staff across his lap.

I blinked, and hummed softly. "I suppose... it's hard to learn, without experiments..." I didn't finish the sentence, because I wasn't interested in guilt-tripping him.

"Or a teacher? Yes, I'm aware. No one has volunteered, because we want to see how well you will do without one. Those who receive a mentor right away have already been measured. We know their abilities, their strengths and weaknesses. You are an unknown." He shrugged.

"So why talk to me now, then?" I raised an eyebrow.

He grinned. "I'm impatient, and overly curious, or so my mentor always said. I want to know what a mixture of Druidic Arcana, Wild Magic, Dwarf Magic, and Elf Magic will be like. I find the entire idea amazing! The perfect test subject! Well, if you'd been born a Druid, that would have been perfect."

I smiled. "I dig the honesty, I guess. I'm happy to be a test subject, if I learn while I'm at it."

"Perfect! Well, first, necromancy is obviously not your strong suit. Even if they had resisted, a powerful or gifted necromancer would have been able to force one in, though I would never condone such a thing." He sighed.